Promise
by Froliczxc
Summary: A childhood trauma and a rise to detective fame later, Levi finds himself being driven to insanity by a certain bright eyed, brunet recruit, who he's sure he had met before... 24 years ago, back when he was 5. What in the world? Or the Modern Police AU in which Levi's a jack, Eren's sarcastic and everyone else they know are also cops. /Summary shortened/
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin as well as its resulting characters. This is an adapted work which is free for viewing.**

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Prologue: Connection

 **24 years ago**

Levi: 5 years old

Levi knelt under the table; shivering as he witnessed a man dressed in total black, with a mask over his head, stabbed his frail grandmother in her chest. 1, 2, 3… Levi counted the number of times the man plunged the knife back in. His mind ordered him to turn away and shut himself away from the brutality but his body refused to cooperate as it was paralyzed in total fear. The pool of blood was accumulating slowly and Levi could see his grandmother's body turn purplish and stale, her head hung lifelessly by her shoulders. It was horrific. By the 10th stab, with bloodlust evident in his gaze, the murderer turned to look at Levi, who was trembling in pure horror under his makeshift cover – the tiny wooden table.

"No…" Levi summoned all his strength to utter.

He continued, "No… No, no, no. NO!"

He gathered momentum in his voice and finally let out a big scream. "No" was all he could manage to say under immense pressure as the man trailed slowly towards him, glare so intimidating that it penetrated Levi's mental defenses and sent shivers down the child's spine. As he sauntered over to the table, the psychotic killer spun the knife in his hand like it was child's play and Levi could sense him grinning maniacally behind that blood-stained mask; he felt like vomiting.

When the man finally reached the table and crouched down, Levi shut his eyes tight, mentally prepared for the sharp pain that would be coming down onto him as the killer swung his arm up in position to thrust the knife into Levi's vital organs.

Then, the murderer spoke for the first time, "It's your turn! Ki-"

A loud gunshot rang through the small apartment. The killer was shot in the arm. With blood spurting out furiously from his gunshot wound, he let his body as well as the knife drop onto the cold hard ground.

"Freeze!" Came a shout from an officer with a pistol in his hand at the door.

"Move away from the child!" He commanded while stepping into the flat cautiously, looking out for possible accomplices.

"AAAAHHHHH!" screaming, the killer went into a frantic state of mind, trying to reach for the fallen weapon with his good arm, but before he could, another round was fired at him. This time he was shot in the abdomen area, disabling his movements and he let out an anguished groan while clutching onto his bloodied wound.

"Stay down fucker! …Kid you okay?" The officer asked after he examined the area and rushed towards Levi, who was cowering under the flimsy wooden table. It was apparent that a murder took place before he arrived. The officer promptly requested for back-up.

Levi couldn't speak at that moment. His eyes were fixed on the murderer lying on the floor writhing in pain. The boy stared for a few seconds, motionless and his gaze soulless.

"Kid?" The officer asked worriedly, grabbing Levi by the shoulders with two steady hands and shaking him a little. He knew that the child was going through a state of trauma.

Levi didn't respond again. He was beyond traumatized; he was near insanity when he pushed the officer away and stalked towards the knife, murderous intent replaced the soulless gaze he had.

"What are you doing?" The officer asked, with concern in his tone.

Levi ignored his question, picked up the knife and began running towards the killer, gripping the knife in his small hand tightly; ready to bring down hard, _sharp,_ justice onto the murderer – literally.

Blood came splattering onto his face when he shoved the knife down, aiming for the man's heart, and then came a low growl of pain. He hated it, he hated the smell of blood oozing from the killer's chest, he hated how he's killing someone and he hated himself for doing this. He might regret his actions in the future but for now, his hatred for this man overpowered any other emotions he had. Levi continued, stabbing the killer over and over again with the knife in his hand, screaming and shouting with tears streaming down his eyes.

"Stop it," the officer ordered in a monotonous voice and grabbed the Levi's hand to prevent him from dealing further harm to the killer.

He continued, "He's already dead."

Levi looked down at the body he was kneeling beside. Multiple lacerations covered his chest and the scene was similar to what he had saw moments ago, when the psychopath was stabbing his grandmother. Levi felt a little pang of guilt in his heart, but at the same time he was relieved that he avenged his grandmother, it was confusing whether he regretted this decision or not, but he didn't know what to feel. How would any 5 year old know what to feel or think in a situation as such?

But Levi had to ask as he stared at his bloodstained outfit and hands, tears still rolling down his cheeks "W-was I wrong? But granny, he killed her."

"No. He deserved it," the officer replied with a little more emotion in his tone this time – it was glazed with pity.

"I killed him... I killed a man…" Levi sobbed, a little panic-stricken and slightly guilt-ridden.

"Yes, you did. But if you didn't, I would have," the officer stated grimly.

Levi turned to look at him in surprise. He knew the man was lying yet that somehow relieved him.

"Alright, what's your name kid?"

Levi, stunned at the sudden change in topic, paused for a moment before he answered, "I'm uhm, Levi."

"Okay Levi, it's dangerous here. The higher level of this building is on fire so we have to get you out of here." The officer picked Levi up from the dead body and quickly stripped the shirt off the child.

"What, on fire?" Levi sniffled and asked as he eyed the officer's quick movements of ripping his clothes off.

Next, the officer began wiping the blood off of the child hastily with a piece of cloth conveniently placed atop the wooden table, before throwing his own uniform jacket over the young kid.

"Yes, on fire. Didn't you hear me the first time?"

It was large enough to act as a cloak for Levi and he was cleaned up in less than a minute, albeit a little messily as well as superficially.

"Now go!" The officer demanded, his finger gestured towards the exit of the apartment, "quickly!"

Just then Levi realized that there indeed was a smoky smell surrounding them which was probably covered by the stench of blood before. The officer was right, they had to leave.

"Aren't you coming with me?"

The officer began speaking in a louder voice as screams were heard from above them, "I came here to get the people out. But before I could reach higher floors I heard you screaming so I came to check out your flat first."

"But…"

"Don't worry Levi, I'll be right behind you. _I promise, I'll come back for you_ ," The officer said with a smile and pushed Levi towards the door, "and remember, forget that this ever happened and tell no one you killed this man. Okay?"

"Okay mister policeman," Levi nodded in response and ran down the flight of stairs when they got out of the flat. He could smell the smoke getting stronger by the second.

When he finally escaped the burning building, sirens were going off and the street was in a chaos. Policemen were barricading the entire building, while firemen were rushing in and spraying loads of water into what looked like a giant furnace. Levi turned his head to look back up, the top part of the building was charred and the fire was wild. Thick, black smoke was fuming out of the windows and he knew that no one could have a chance of surviving inside that blazing fire. His breath hitched at that thought and he had a strong urge to run up the stairs again to tell the officer to come down, but a strong policeman was pulling him back to a safer area, behind the barricade, effectively holding the young boy back.

"But, he's still inside! He's still trying to safe people!" Levi yelled at the policeman who was yanking him away.

"Who's inside?" The policeman asked in irritation.

"Your friend is! He's the one with brown hair and green eyes!"

"Kid, there're too many cops working in this district for me to recognize every one of them. Anyway, if he's still in there, the firemen will get him out alright? Anyway, you're definitely not going back in. Stay out here," the policeman demanded as he let go of Levi's arms outside of the barricade. He then turned to ask his colleague to make sure Levi stayed out of the danger zone.

Levi's tears began flowing again and he sobbed softly while staring at the flames dancing furiously atop the building, "You promised you'll be right behind me…"

He waited and waited, eyes never leaving the exit of the building hoping to see the man with brown hair, emerald coloured eyes and dressed in uniform dash out of it. Sadly, that never happened. The officer never escaped…

 _He didn't fulfil his promise to the young kid who needed him._


	2. Chapter 1: Salutation

Summary (2): His goal: To excel in the department of Criminal Investigation and single-handedly deal justice to the ones who caused the death of his mother. Little did Eren know that along the way, it isn't as lonely a path as he thought it would be. Thank heavens.

"I made a promise," he sighed. "Or in other words, I dug my own grave… again."

Chapter 1: Salutation

 **Present**

Eren: 24 years old

Eren jogged through the narrow corridors of the police station with a bagel in his hand. Strands of hair sticking out in random directions, his shirt barely tucked in appropriately and he was going to be late on the first day of his new post; fantastic start.

Graduating from the academy with the silver whistle counted as no small feat and it's one of the highest honour for a Police Cadet. It wasn't that Eren didn't already thank the stars for that, but getting into the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was Eren's sole motive for joining the force in the first place. What he hadn't expected was to be assigned to the CID 2 months after graduation. He was still… what did they call it? Right! An absolute noob. Eren was not prepared for this, he wasn't ready for one of his lifelong dreams to be fulfilled.

Then again, who ever cared about what he thought? A deep breath, sharp right turn, right hand raised to his forehead and here goes nothing.

"Good morning, 650478 Eren Jaeger, reporting for duty!" He saluted.

The silence that rolled over was deafening. Shit, he should have known nobody cares what his number was, dumbass (as usual). On a second look, Eren doubled over and realised that no one was in the office to greet in the first place. He doesn't know whether he should be relieved or terrified. Was he in the wrong office again? He tilted his head up to peek at the silver plate screwed into the wooden door leading to the room, "Criminal Investigation Department" were the words carved into it. Alright, he was in the designated location but where in hell blazes is everyone else? He doesn't suppose that they got lost instead.

He looked around the desolated office searching for clues as to where his missing (new) colleagues may have been. Then it ticked… and tocked and tick tock, tick tock, he settled his gaze on the clock hanging by the wall.

"7.15 am?" Eren asked no one in particular as he read off the hands of the wall clock.

Assuming that the clock is in perfect working condition that must only mean one thing: that little shit Armin had set his clock an hour forward. Work doesn't start in another 45 minutes. Well that explained the empty hallways while he ran through the station, too panicky to realise that the entire fucking building was unoccupied except for a few sorry souls still lingering around trying to tie up unfinished paperwork.

Now instead of being 15 minutes late, he was 45 minutes early. Eren thinks this could be what people call a blessing in disguise. Eren plopped himself down on a soft and comfortable office chair before pulling his phone out from his jeans.

' _I hate you so much. But thanks man, I ain't late thanks to your little prank.'_

Armin's reply came in less than 3 seconds.

' _I love you too. I knew you'd be late, so you're definitely welcomed. ^^'_

Eren rolled his eyes at that, sometimes it creeps him out at how much Armin plans 3 steps ahead of him.

' _Yea well, lesson learnt. So please don't do this ever again. What am I going to do for another 40 minutes?'_

' _Idk, snoop around and find out what your team's made up of? I heard your leader's kinda "eccentric", or so they say.'_

Inspector Levi was the talk of both the Academy and the previous station Eren was posted to, Shiganshina. According to the public, he was the "young and hot", the "smart and decisive", the "cool and accomplished" but there have been some who preferred the adjectives "cold as ice", "hard as rock" and "bitch as fuck". Eren had idolized Inspector Levi for as long as he could remember, yet the more he inquired about the infamous inspector, the more he dreaded their meeting. A part of him hoped that rumours stayed as such and the truth would come out on the other side; the side with rainbows and unicorns. Yeah, Eren liked that thought.

As always, he was shot down from heaven straight into hell, even in his daydreams.

"And who the fuck are you?" came a low, frustrated voice from behind.

Eren recognised his voice immediately. He'd re-watched too many of those darn press conferences to forget. That was him, the short and the furious, in the flesh.

Eren decided to play it cool this time, "Hi Sir, I'm Eren Jaeger, 2 months fresh out of the Academy and your newest addition to the team."

A glint of surprise flashed across Levi's face but it was gone as soon as it came, Eren thinks he might be hallucinating but just in case, he looked down at himself to make sure there weren't any remnants of jam from that bagel he was chewing on earlier.

Levi raised an eyebrow and spoke in a dull tone, "2 months is anything but fresh, Jaeger. I heard you've got a silver whistle from the Academy… the fuck did Shadis see in a punk like you?"

Okay, everyone and their mother were irrefutably correct; this guy is an asshole.

"And I thought they had a minimum height requirement for the force?" Eren responded with a question of his own. It took him a second to acknowledge the fact that yes, he'd just went for the underhanded height insult and yes, he'd just sassed his superior for the next (possibly) 10 years to come. Shit.

A glowering glare from Levi was the only thing required for the following onslaught of apologies.

"Sorry Sir, I didn't mean to. It's just a stupid thing I do when I speak before I think and you called me a punk, I'm so sorry and I have no clue what the fuck got into me it was childish and dumb and you're a hero, I have your picture up on my wall in my bedroom at home, it's a really flattering picture you didn'-"

"Just okay… stop. Apology accepted as long as you shut up for the next 5 minutes." Levi ran a hand down his face in frustration.

On the other hand, Eren felt like his face caught on fire considering that he had just gave the most embarrassing first impression to the one and only Inspector Levi. Everything was going swell, as well as the extremely awkward silence surrounding two extremely awkward individuals, swell.

"How old are you, Jaeger?" Levi unexpectedly broke the peace.

"I'm 24 years old, Sir."

Levi curtly nodded and began strolling towards his personal office. He threw a head backwards to the empty desk in the left corner of the room and spoke again, "That's your desk over there." He added, "And I'm grumpy in the morning without my coffee fix."

The door to the Inspector Office slammed shut as Eren stood dumbly staring at the emptiness of the main room.

He took this chance to wonder, was that an indirect apology?


	3. Chapter 2: Team

Chapter 2: Team

30 minutes till the work day officially starts for Eren Jaeger and he's already bored out of his mind. He pushed with his left foot off the polished floor to initiate a gentle swivel of the black, cushioned office chair, pondering over what he should actually do to get occupied. Inspector Levi was settled in his office peacefully, making no signs of him exiting that sanctuary to brief Eren about his new duties. Eren heaved a huge sigh at the memories of his interactions with the superior and cringed. He instantly thought back to the time he locked Jean and Marco in the men's cubicle during morning assembly while they were back at the Academy; Karma's a bitch. If this was God's way of telling Eren to stop being a jackass to Jean, God might be onto something here but knowing himself, Eren's never going to stop messing with Jean even if that means Marco getting caught within the crossfire. Eren snorted.

"Hello!" came a cheerful greeting from the entrance.

Eren twirled his chair around to face the source of sunshine in this otherwise stormy morning.

"Hi, good morning!" He waved at a petite looking female dressed in denim shorts and pink plaited shirt.

She warmly smiled back, "You must be Eren, our new team mate. I'm Petra, Petra Ral of Squad Levi."

"Squad Levi?" Eren raised an eyebrow. And he thought he was immature.

"I know, I know, lamest thing you've ever came across?" She rolled her eyes in a goofy manner before continuing, "one of the other guys on our team came up with it, his name's Auruo. It's childish in a sense, but the name stuck after we got used to it. You'll find it endearing in a few weeks from now."

Petra slowly made her way to a desk decorated with a few potted plants, adorable picture frames of what Eren assumed to be her family and friends as well as a small rack she used to shelf several books of criminal psychology. Noticing the title of the books, Eren was reminded of his college days and he couldn't help a shiver from slithering down his spine. Ugh, college.

"And you're early! Did you come in before or after the captain?" Petra asked as she settled down by her neat desk, her chair scooted closer to Eren's.

"Captain, you mean Inspector Levi? I arrived before him but it's a long story why I'm here this early even. I'm usually never this good at being early for work honestly." Eren scratched the back of his head sheepishly; maybe he shouldn't have told her that. There goes another bad impression, hallelujah.

Surprisingly, Petra giggled, "Then there's no better place than Squad Levi to bring you up to shape. The captain - that's what we call Levi, likes to follow a tight schedule. You'll learn a few things while working with us," with that Petral stood up and walked over to Eren's desk in small steps, picked up a few folders that were left neatly piled on the corner of the otherwise empty table and dropped them on Eren's lap.

"Lesson number 1," she flashed a devilish smile, "know the suspects more than you know yourself. These are the files on the newest case on our plate, so study them before we leave for the mission at 1100 hours today."

Eren stared down at the documents weighing his thighs down, for some reason, college doesn't sound as bad as it did a minute ago. No, no, these are actual material for a real case and if they can help him get evil locked up behind bars he'd read them even if they were full volumes of Encyclopedias. A look of determination masked across Eren's features and he sincerely saluted, "Yes Ma'am."

"Fantastic! I'm gonna go get coffee for Captain Levi and myself, anything for you sweetheart?"

"Yea, a flat white would be perfect right now, thanks Petra." Eren turned to get to work.

"I'll be right back then," she grinned before heading out with her detective lanyard.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before flipping a folder opened, "what a perfect morning this turned out to be." He mumbled to himself. Eren's sarcasm is the one thing that keeps him sane in situations like this; he sure as hell is going to make good use of it.

It was 0745 until another soul arrived at the office. Eren could take a break from his reading to mingle with another teammate, he actually sort of needed this. Or so he thought.

"Hey dipshit," the man by the frame of the door spat gesturing at Petra with a backward tilt of his head.

Petra rolled her eyes as she responded, "Good morning to you too Auruo. You sound insufferable today as per usual."

"Shut up, who's the new kid?"

"Hi, I'm Eren Jaeger your new teammate," Eren stood to greet. This guy seemed like an asshat. And that was an extremely on point observation, 10 points to Jaeger.

"Hah, they sent us a wimpy looking kid as a new member? The fuck do they think we are, a day care center?" Auruo mocked irritatingly.

Petra gasped, "Auruo! If you're trying to be like the Captain again, stop. All you're doing is being a jerk and nobody appreciates that sort of behaviour. Eren, don't mind him, he's just an ill-mannered swine," she chided with a disapproving look plastered on her face. She was fuming.

Eren couldn't help but to relate the man, Auruo, with his 'friend' Jean. He trembled at the resemblance, holy shit. It wasn't the physical looks that were of similarity, this man had more profound wrinkles, permed white hair with an undercut, beady eyes and a flat jawline. Jean had a more youthful look, ugly scowl, light brown hair combed to the side and sharper jawline, he was a good-looking man, Eren would admit to himself but never to anyone else alive, because all Jean is to him is a horse-faced fucker as far as anyone is concerned. Which brings him to his point of connecting Auruo with Jean, they're both pricks with lousy attitudes and foul mouths; Eren disliked both of them.

"I'm not a kid!" Way to not sound like a kid, Jaeger. Let's try that again, "I'm-"

The door to the inspector's office slammed opened.

"Shut the fuck up, all of you." Levi frowned in the direction of Auruo and said, "Auruo, we aren't a fucking day care so stop acting like a 5 year old. I need that update on the interrogation with the deceased's sister. Since you're here already, give me what you've got on hand."

"Yes Sir!" Auruo straightened up immediately at Levi's authoritative voice.

He made his way over to his desk to retrieve a beige folder before trailing after Levi into the posh looking office, all while glaring at Eren, somehow implying that they'll pick up the argument next time. Eren slumped back down into his chair trying to bury himself in information about the case again. This day just keeps getting better and better.

"Hey Eren," Petra softly called out from her position, "Sorry about Auruo. You'll find him bearable soon enough. He tries to act tough like the Captain even though he's nothing like Levi. Just treat everything he says as a joke, it's easier that way and I'm sure he meant none of the insults."

"Thanks Petra, you're the only person here who's treating me like a normal person. Are the other guys on our team anything like um… them?" Eren shifted his gaze to the office. He definitely hoped not.

Petra smiled with understanding, "don't worry, I'm sure you'll love the other 2 of Squad Levi."

"You mean us?" A deep voice sounded from the frame of the door Auruo once stood. 2 men replaced his spot noted Eren as he turned to check out the new arrivals.

"Morning Petra," the second man lifted his coffee as a greeting and he met Eren's eyes. "You too; you must be the new guy, Jaeger? Eren Jaeger, right?"

"Good morning Gunther, Eld." Petra waved to both figures as they strolled into the room.

"Yes sir, I'm Eren Jaeger. Good morning to you both."

"Hello I'm Eld Jinn and this guy's Gunther Schultz. Welcome to the team Eren." Eld, the man with the low voice and blonde hair held his hand out for Eren to take. Finally, an ordinary handshake to address each other; the thing that normal, civilised people do. Eren could almost kiss the man's hand but he held himself back.

"Hey Eren, nice to meet you. We've needed an extra pair of hands around lately. Good to have you on the team," Gunther shook Eren's hand firmly as he spoke.

So he had 3 approachable seniors in the team, 1 bastard and 1 short demon, Eren could work with that, he thought to himself.

"Nice to meet you too, Sirs. I'm looking forward to working with everyone on the team." Not really, Eren wasn't exactly sold on Auruo and Levi yet but he managed a year of training with Jean Kirchstein and 10 years in the ghetto of Shiganshina, he could handle this, easy. Maybe.

After a friendly exchange with Eld and Gunther, Eren dived back into the records Petra had handed to him before to familiarise himself with the case. All these happened even before work began at 0800 hours. With a defeated sigh, Eren took the last sip from his flat white as the clock struck 8.

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 ** _Note: Thanks for reading. If you've noticed any grammatical or general error in the use of language, do leave a review and I'll fix anything up ASAP. This work will lead to eventual Eren x Levi (Ereri/Riren) via slow build. You have been warned._**


	4. Chapter 3: Confrontation

**Note: Thank you for the favourites/follows/review! Appreciate the kind feedback and hoping everyone continues to enjoy the story.**

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Chapter 3: Confrontation

The information that Eren had went through wasn't as heavy as he initially thought it would be. Most of the folders only seemed thick with the plentiful photographs from the crime scene filed untidily within. The notes scribbled inside the documents were concise and helpfully coherent. Meaning less words more intelligence, Eren's favourite sort of read albeit not liking reading at all.

The crime committed at hand was murder and quite undoubtedly in a voluntary sense at that. The deceased was strangled and assumed drugged prior to that as there were no signs of struggle. Oddly enough, the scene of the crime was ransacked as though to mimic a case of burglary with quite some valuable possessions removed. Yet it was painfully obvious that to be able to drug the victim before attempting to kill him meant that the culprit must have been a known guest. This could have either been an amateur's work considering the sloppy set-up or the killer's trying to cover shit up. Interesting. However, since the body was only found last night at 2100, even if they had required greater details on the case, the team had to wait for lab results from the Forensics. Eren could feel the blood coursing through his vein at a higher rate; in another 3 hours, he would be on his way on solving the first murder case of his detective career, hell to the fuck yeah. And guess what, he'd be working with the ever famous Squad Levi. Despite the assholes he'd met over the last 45 minutes, he knows they're the best the entire force have got to offer and he cannot wait till he sees the team in action… or more like, till he gets in action with the team. Oh my god, he is absolutely on the verge of passing out from the awesomeness that is his life right now. Except…

"Jaeger! Your ass, my office, now." Levi demanded while Auruo sauntered out over to his own work desk. Back track to: 'assholes he'd met over the last 45 minutes', yeah, that adrenaline just got extinguished.

Eren tried not to sound too defeated, "Yes sir!" he answered as he stalked behind Levi.

The heavy door clicked shut behind him with Eren standing at ease without further permission from his superior. The last time he remembered taking a seat without a command, he ended up running 20 laps around the compound at the Academy on an empty stomach. Fucking Shadis. Unfortunately for him, Levi didn't seem to care if Eren was uncomfortably standing by the doorframe agonized by the tensed silence that washed over both stiff figures in the room. Eren was starting to wonder the point of him being in the office seeing that Levi was just going to sit and stare at him while he tried to rest his eyes anywhere but make awkward eye-contact with his leader. Okay he's had enough of this suffocating atmosphere.

"Sir?" Eren prompted while lifting an eyebrow.

At that, Levi flinched and the slightest of frown dawned upon the usually stoic face, as if realising his irregular behaviour. Without missing a beat, he picked up and flipped open a black folder. The edge of the pages were a tad bit creased, it appeared to have been under constant perusal. Someone had been repeatedly going through that piece of document and apparently, it was Eren's particulars.

"Cadet Eren Jaeger. Graduated from the Academy on April 4th 2015. Commendations include and are not limited to: Most Improved Award, Best Physical Award, Gold Sharpshooter Award, Silver Whistle Award. Very impressive," Levi peered up to nod at Eren before he continued reading, "1 month of experience working the patrols and 1 month with the Emergency Services before appointment to the CID. High praises from both Supervising Officers stating: brave, determined and adaptable despite being a little hot-headed. Cases resolved over the following 2 months sums up to a total of 35. Sergeant Keith Shadis from the Academy said you were one of the best shitstain he produced."

At that, Eren smirked; it was so much in character of Shadis to have said that to the evaluating officers. He could imagine they were used to his uncouth attitude and somewhere deep down in him, Eren knew he missed that loud, boorish mentor of his. He might just make a trip down to the Academy after work today and bring some Chinese take-out over. Shadis loves Chinese food. He also had zero clues that his records were beautiful, praising him to the skies and Eren's ego just couldn't soar any higher after that compliment fest so he sucked in a deep breath and held his chest out. If this is what feeling proud is like, man, Eren could get used to feeling this good.

A loud smack rang across the room as Levi threw the file down vehemently onto his sleek table. He rolled his chair back a small fraction and threw his left leg over his right, crossing his arm along with it. Even though all that still left Levi at a lower point of view Eren couldn't help feeling beneath the captain now, what was going on?

"So, you think I give a shit about all that bullshit those slackers put into your records?" Levi questioned with a stone cold expression.

"No, sir." Eren steeled a reply grimly.

"That was a fucking rhetorical question. Of course I don't give a damn about pretty words on a piece of useless paper."

Well this guy's the epitome of polite alright. "Yes, sir." Eren bit. He's not going down a stuttering mess.

"I don't care about what you've done before and what you've accomplished. It's what you're going to do and what you're going to achieve that matters. If you're on a high horse and think you're all that for getting the Silver Whistle and had people making googly eyes at you I suggest you get off that ride right now. The slate is blank – you're Eren Jaeger, newest addition to my team at the CID with nothing but your name and talk. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir, we're clear."

"Now that we're clear, know that everything is about the orders here. My word is final in every way and form. You do not argue and you do not talk back to me until you've proven yourself. Those people out there are the elites of my team so when I'm not able to directly give you commands, you damn well listen to those fuckers out there if you want to keep your head in the game."

"Yes sir." Eren was experiencing mixed feelings about this. Was he supposed to feel upset at the inferiority that Captain Levi is casting upon him or was he supposed to be awed at the superiority of everyone else on this team? Shit he honestly had no idea, but since it's always been how he handled situations, Eren decided to be an idiot about it.

"But none of you have proven yourself to me." He countered. Bad. Fucking. Idea.

Levi stood up from his position; he hates being challenged by snot-nosed brats. His aura intensified with an almost murderous intent yet his expression remained unchanged. This will be a tough match if they were playing a game of poker. But alas, this was no poker, this was Eren being a fool while trapped in an enclosed area with his minute superior and no security cameras around. He ponders if he could make a run for it but eventually chose to clean up the mess he made.

"Sir, I'm so-"

"Don't apologise brat. You're right. But orders are orders, you've learnt at least that much from the Academy?" Levi rested both his hands on his table and leaned in to ask.

"Yes sir."

"Then get your arrogant ass out of my office and to Forensics. Tell them I need the results from autopsy and for the shit we'd gathered at the scene. That's an order."

"I'm on it. And sir?" Eren glanced at the captain to make sure he had his attention, "I'm not a brat and I'll prove you wrong. Sorry sir." Eren stated as he quickly made his escape while remembering to shut the door behind him.

Levi slipped back onto his seat, overwhelmed by the different emotions eating him up. He was frustrated, irritated, surprised and intrigued. What is this brat? He came in looking like that - bright eyes and brown haired, openly challenged Levi in his own element and yet for some reason, despite the sass thrown at him since they've met, he thinks he might like this kid… What is wrong with him? He swears, those 'vitamins' Hanji had been making him swallow is slowly driving him to insanity, he's sure. Against his better judgement, Levi decided to type the following message to his not-best-friend-at-all.

' _I'm going fucking crazy.'_

Hanji was always fast at replying so the respond that came in a matter of milliseconds did not surprise Levi at all.

' _Ooooooh do tell! Did my vitamins work like you always thought they'd do?'_

' _Fuck you and your "vitamins". You've always wanted to drive me up the wall. You got it.'_

' _Let me repeat this like the other 999 times I've told you, they are just vitamins to keep you healthy, it's even written on the packaging. Now tell me why you think you're going crazy!'_

Hanji's a liar, Levi knows it.

' _Because I just met the man who saved me from the killer 24 years ago. He died in the fire… but he's here.'_

' _WHAT?! You mean you saw a ghost? You ARE going crazy short stack!'_

' _No. I saw a human that looks just like him. He's the new guy on my team. I've read his records, I've seen his face in pictures but looking at him up close just… they look exactly the same.'_

' _AND YOU'VE NEVER TOLD ME? I'M COMING OVER TO LOOK RIGHT NOW.'_

' _No need. I'm sending him to Forensics anyway. You'll know when you see him.'_

' _Holy shit! Tell me sooner about things like this! BRB.'_

' _Wait shitty glasses.'_

No replies. Well fantastic, Levi should have known things were going to turn out like that. He ran a hand through his hair and decided to go grab another cup of coffee because 3 shots of espresso is the only thing that can save him right about now.

* * *

 _ **Note: There will be some sort of thicker plot in the chapters further down relating to the case on hand. I'm not a practiced writer but I've got some sort of plan for Mystery, so please stick with me for the Romance that will bud from that :) Thank you for reading!**_


	5. Chapter 4: Interrogation

Chapter 4: Interrogation

The Forensics Laboratory was vastly different from the other law enforcing departments Eren had passed by while taking a walk through the Maria Police Headquarters. White washed wooden tables which were overlaid with black, smooth granite tabletops lined the wide area aptly. Not a single space in the glossy white, polished laboratory was inefficiently occupied as far as Eren could tell. Science equipment took up most of the vacancy of the room and wherever there wasn't a gadget filling up a spot, there were smart individuals dressed in clean coats cruising about. The agents who were moving swiftly through the lab with their heads lowered and reading over clipboards amazed Eren endlessly; how does any of them know what's in front of them while they have their eyes on papers? These people aren't called four eyes for nothing… well, most of them.

"Eren? What are you doing here?" A voice he could discern anywhere sounded from a corner of the room.

"Hey Armin! Damn, I can barely recognise you with those huge goggles you've got on, they look pretty cute on ya'; kinda cover your whole face since it's tiny anyway. You look way better with your face obscured and out of view," Eren teased his bright blonde friend as he made his way over to him, who's accompanied by a microwave-like contraption.

Armin faked a laugh as he turned to retrieve test-tubes from the microwave with a pair of test-tube holders, "Har. Har. I'm Eren Jaeger and I'm so funny. I'm so funny that I subject my best-friend to constant obnoxious mockery because the only thing he does is love me."

"Ouch. I compliment your fashion and all I get in return is sass, what a cruel, cruel world." Eren dramatically stated and faltered in his steps to complement his performance.

"You're a childish doofus Eren. Remind me, why I'm even friends with you?" multi-tasking, Armin separated liquids from test-tubes as he remained undistracted by his best-friend-&-roommate.

Eren was about to retort, however he felt a sudden, warm gush of air hit the back of his neck, causing goosebumps to begin forming. He snapped his head back only to be met with a pair of dark brown eyes laced with excitement stare into his petrified soul unblinkingly. The creature panted heavily with a smile plastered across its face as it made a step towards Eren, resulting in him slowly retreating, his senses overwhelmed with the unexplainable emotion of "what-in-the-fucking-world-is-going-on".

"Chief Hanji!?" Armin spoke, breaking Eren out of his horrified trance.

For Christ sake, that's a human. A human who's Armin's boss.

"Helloooo Armin! Who's your adorable friend?" Hanji asked joyfully, looking over Eren to focus on Armin.

Despite being beyond confused and nervous at Hanji's close proximity with Eren, Armin managed to utter, "That's um… Eren Jaeger from the CID, ma'am."

"Ma'am, don't you think you're leaning a bit too close here?" Eren finally managed to find the words he'd been desperately looking for.

The scientist's line of sight fell back onto Eren immediately. He instantly regretted everything he had done in his life that brought him to this point including bringing her attention back onto himself. Oh lord, if you're real, please help.

"Yes… yes! It's a match! Wait, hold still Eren," Hanji was absolutely bananas as she squealed and picked her iPhone 6s up from the adjacent counter, she further proved her insanity when she snapped a photo of Eren's bewildered expression without giving a warning. "There we go, now I just need to run this over the software… yes. So Eren! Mind if I ask you a few questions?" She pocketed her smartphone and grinned at Eren as if this was just a routine check-up; except it was totally not.

"Sorry? Ma'am I'm not understanding all of… um," Eren gestured wildly with his hands, "THIS."

"Oh no, no, relax this is us just having a fun conversation! Right Armin?"

Armin sneaked a peek at an obviously astonished and perplexed Eren before turning back to Hanji and responded, "Ma'am, you're only like this when facing corpses, I'm afrai-"

"Rubbish! Eren's not a corpse at all, is he?" She gave a hard pat on the lean back of Eren, forcing him to choke up air and flinch forward. "Right? You've never been a corpse at all?" Her cheery tone dropped entirely, switching out to become something more heavily serious, the look in her eyes screamed of sincerity. She made a move and lifted Eren's arm to quickly expose his flesh beneath the jacket he was sporting, causing Eren to side-step her and yank his sleeves back down. As a measure of precaution, Eren folded his arms to make sure that never happens again.

They were utterly flabbergasted. What is the problem with this lady? It's only been 3 weeks since Armin joined the Forensics Department, working under Dr. Hanji, Chief of the Forensic Science Department and Head Pathologist. He had never been more disoriented by her behaviour in the last 3 weeks than he had been at this moment and that's saying a lot. Both friends were left completely speechless by this woman.

"So? Have you died before Eren?" She prompted, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had just made an attempt on Eren's well-toned arm.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes or no? Have you died before? Let's say 24 years ago to be exact." The woman deadpanned.

"No, of course not…? On the contrary, I was kinda born 24 years ago actually. Ma'am, I really don't understand where all of thi-"

"You're 24 this year?! On which date and time were you delivered, Eren?"

"I don't know, I was adopted," Eren answered uncomfortably and continued, "Ma'am I'm only here on Captain Levi's orders to retrieve the lab results for the case we're on right now, I think he needs me to hurry back. It's pretty urgent actually; I should probably grab it and go."

Hanji chuckled, "Short stack? Don't worry about him, he's a hugeeeeeeeeeee softie on the inside, we can always work around that. Now, Eren come into my office, I've gotta get your blood samples!" She sounded as if Eren had expected to get his blood drawn from the Chief of Forensics today… Okay?

"My what? No, no, no we are NOT getting blood from anyone! I'm getting what I came here for and getting the hell out of here if anyone's getting anything at all." He panicked. Nothing scares Eren Jaeger more than needles and syringes, and most possibly Dr. Hanji too after this encounter. He is most definitely not going to stay here and be treated as a test-subject unknowingly; he doesn't even have a clue why she's zoomed in on him and he wants to escape.

"Hanji, you idiot," Levi appeared out of nowhere and in all his seriousness, scowled from behind the chief. "Stop fooling around at work."

Captain Levi could not have turn up at a better timing than this. Eren quickly threw him a pleading look to indicate that he needed to be rescued from this sticky predicament. Quite literally sticky, in fact, because Hanji immediately lodged her entire body onto Eren's left arm.

"You're not taking him alive, Levi!" She yelled possessively and tightened her grip.

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose in sheer irritation and hardened a frown at his clearly unsound friend, "Let. The. Brat. Go. Hanji." He paused for effect. "Now."

With that, Hanji let her head drop and hang, releasing Eren from her clutches, "You always ruin all the fun."

"Seriously Hanji, how is this fun for anyone but you?" Levi sighed softly.

"Eren was! We were going to have a nice conversation and tea, and test his blood even."

Eren's eyes widened at that and he quickly countered, "Nope. No, that will positively be no fun at all on my part, Ma'am." He nudged a puzzled Armin standing beside him to instigate a comment from meek friend.

"Ye-yea Ma'am. You did actually startle us both. We still barely understand the situation in fact." Armin stuttered from the side, part of him wishing to just get back to work already.

"See?" Levi pointed out, "Now give me the stuff and we can all get back to work."

Armin nodded desperately to show support for Levi's suggestion.

Hanji immediately showed remorse by apologising instantly, "Awww, no, I'm sorry for scaring you sweeties. It's just because Eren looks ex-"

"Hanji." Levi cut her off before she could give context and she appeared to be struck by realisation, "I mean, Eren looks exhausted, I thought I could cheer him up and fix him up!"

"By taking my blood sample?" Eren knew she was bluffing; he's not that stupid. Both of the superiors were hiding something and Eren feels unsettled not knowing what it is because it seems to concern him.

"She's crazy and you look hot. She probably just wanted to get some sugar. Now can I please have my Autopsy and Forensics report? Christ." Levi spoke out of turn in weariness. He was getting tired of this shtick.

Wait, did he just... God damn it. Here's to hoping nobody noticed that slip up.

"Hey that's rude!" Hanji reprimanded as she scooted off to a nearby shelf to snag a few files, "but here's your papers, happy now grumpy-pants?"

"Oh boy, oh joy, is it Christmas already?" Levi said in the most disinterested tone and turned on his heels, "Let's go kid. We got what we came for."

"See ya later Ar," Eren held a hand up to bid farewell before jogging up beside Levi as they left the sleek laboratory.

Levi made a sharp left in the next corridor in the directly opposite direction of the CID and Eren couldn't help but question, "Where are we going Cap'n?"

"I need coffee, my head hurts," Levi replied as he continued pacing himself so that Eren could catch up.

"Oh, the cafeteria," Eren thought out loud.

"No shit, Sherlock."

The subordinate snickered at that and brought up, "So, you think I'm hot?"

Shit; someone noticed alright. Levi resolved that keeping silent would make Eren stop talking, and it worked seamlessly, their journey to the canteen was peace and quiet… For give or take, 1 minute.

"I don't think coffee's good for a headache," Eren broke the silence hanging in the air.

"Any better suggestions?" Levi asked insincerely. He wondered, why can't the kid shut up for just 5 minutes.

"Not drinking coffee?"

He has got to be joking. That's the best answer Eren could come up with? Levi went with his go-to response to idiocy as he made a turn into the Cafeteria and kept quiet by not giving a response. He began to queue up at the counter to get his 2nd flat white of the day with Eren tagging along behind him and he realised he could have just sent the brat back with the files.

"Here, take these and head back first if you want to, I'll get my fix and head back for pre-mission briefing," He suggested and passed the files over to Eren.

"Nah, I wanna get something too. Hey, what about orange juice Sir? Better than coffee for a headache," Eren doesn't give up.

"I'm not a child, brat."

"No you're not. But you're stubborn."

"I won't deny that." Levi turned around to make his order, "Small flat white with an extra shot."

"Was that extra shot on purpose?" Eren furrowed his brows.

"Maybe it was," Levi stated blankly and made his way to the collection counter. He always had his coffee with triple shots but if that also annoyed Eren, it was a double win for him.

As the barista handed Levi his coffee at the counter, Eren strolled over with a Ham and Cheese sandwich in hand, angling his head to the exit signaling that he's ready to make their way back.

"Here," Eren transferred the sandwich onto Levi's free hand, "I bought you breakfast."

Levi stopped in his steps and stared at him, wildly amused.

The younger of the two flushed and explained, "You must've been having coffee on an empty stomach. Anyway, sandwiches are delicious and nutritious! Nevermind, you know what, forget aout the sandwiches it's a stupid idea, who even likes ham and cheese? I mean, I do bu-"

"Thanks brat. I like ham and cheese," Levi never smiles, but if he did, he would be right now. This was… interesting to say the least.

Eren scratched the back of his head abashedly, "You're welcome Sir."

The walk back to CID was finally in peace with Eren trailing behind Levi while the latter munched on his first, real breakfast in ages. Eren quite enjoyed the comfortable silence that fell between them; something that he usually quite disliked to bear was actually soothing now. He took a moment to look over Levi's stature since he's got the opportunity to finally appreciate the lean figure in front of him. Levi's undercut hair accentuates the sharp jawline the man dons and his casual yet chic suit is not just appropriate for a man of his status but brings out the smooth curves of his body and strong legs. Essentially, what Eren is seeing is a man with sky-rocketing charisma and Eren is surprised at how he hadn't noticed Levi's appeal until now. Eren thinks that such beauty is a waste on an asshole such as Levi, but life is particularly unfair anyway. He's not exactly sure what compelled him to purchase breakfast for Levi back at the cafeteria, but whatever it was, it seemed to work because Levi had not once insulted him as they made it back to the office together. Eren could live with that.

Petra's voice was the first to come through when they reached the doorway to CID.

"Captain, we have an issue," She frowned.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading!**_


	6. Chapter 5: Reconnaisance

_**Note: Apologies for the rather late update, this entire chapter was written with only one eye, so pardon any obvious mistakes, I've only proofread it twice :c**_

* * *

Chapter 5: Reconnaissance

Eld took a step forward with a stiff expression and informed, "There was a distressed call from the security post of The Wall Rose Apartments. They've been breached."

"Wall Rose Apartments? That's where the crime scene is currently located right?" Eren commented upon realisation.

Eld gave him a quick nod as confirmation while Gunther came up beside him, reading off a notepad in his left hand and added, "According to the caller, all of the security feed from the surveillance cameras around the building have been deleted and the hardware was destroyed."

It was a misfortunate issue; due to the breaking down of security equipment last night, the CID couldn't retrieve the footage instantly. Now, it was all removed and every person in the room wore a stern look, clearly showing their displeasure. Before anyone else could provide further explanations, Levi plainly stated, "they've beat us to it. Change of plans, we roll out now. Team A: Eld, Petra and Auruo, the three of you get to the initial crime scene and scout out ahead. If they'd managed to infiltrate security, I don't see why they wouldn't go for it. Team B: Gunther, Eren and I will be gathering intel from their security, we'll converge at Apartment 1814 with Team A when we're ready. Move out and stay in contact."

"Yes Sir!" Squad Levi responded in unison.

The team moved out to the parking area located outside the Maria Police Headquarters, it was queued with a dozen of standard patrol cars and motorcycles. They came up to two Audi cars parked side-by-side, one of them is shiny & silver plated and the other a sleek, glossy black. Eren made sure to stick with Levi and Gunther as they approached the black ride.

"Want me to take the wheel Gunther?" He politely offered, being the junior, he should be expected to take the grunt of the work.

"You know where we're heading?" Gunther questioned back.

Eren took that as a 'yes' and headed straight for the driver's seat while replying, "Yea, I've been reading the files for the whole morning. Wall Rose Apartments is uptown isn't it?"

"That's right. Thanks man." Gunther slipped into the back seat at that and Levi casually took the front.

"No problem sir." The designated driver of the day buckled his seat belt, flipped the handbrake and took off for the scene with his seniors in tow.

As Eren rolled the car out of the station, Levi began checking in, "Eren tell me what you know of the case after reading those files."

Without taking his eyes off the road, he answered as best as he could, "The deceased, Kitts Woerman, male, 33, single, was found dead in his apartment by his elder sister at 9pm last night. Primary cause of death is assumed to be asphyxiation via strangling by an unknown object and there were no signs of struggle. The scene of the crime was ransacked and the sister provided no extra information about the probable cause of death after initial interrogation. This is assumed to be pre-meditated murder instead of a burglary case. We have no designated main suspects yet."

Levi hummed approvingly in response and Eren took it that he had passed his first test; score!

Gunther then popped his head in between the front seats and exclaimed, "Not bad Eren! Good thing you came in early today, huh?" He lightly nudged Eren's shoulders to give props.

Eren slightly shifted his weight to return Gunther's playful nudge and smiled in return, his mood steadily brightening with a light compliment. He hasn't exactly had much interaction with the entire team but as of now, he believes his favourites are Gunther and Petra. They are both nice to be around in a foreign environment, unlike Captain Miserable over there. Speaking of…

Levi cleared his throat from his seat and said with a slight hint of irritation, "Gunther sit your ass down and put your safety belt on. We're the police for fuck's sake."

He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed today to be so irritable. Eren inwardly sighed, slowly but surely regretting his decision to have bought Levi that ham and cheese sandwich. What was he thinking, being nice to the grumpiest person he'd ever met?

"Yes Sir," Gunther grumbled in remote confusion.

On the same note, Levi's beginning to irritate himself. Since when had he cared about god damn safety belts? Safety belt, of all things he could have said, he asked Gunther to stay safe and buckle up like he gave a shit about fucking seat belts. Levi is certain today's a bad day, a terrible day actually. Usually being the first to reach the office, he would nestle in his office and go through bothersome paperwork until the rest of the team arrives, but the first person he saw in the office today, flashed him back to being 5 years old again. He couldn't believe he'd managed to keep his composure for as long as he did before mentally breaking down behind his desk, trembling and having to scribble "He's already dead" repeatedly until he calmed down.

Next thing he knows, he's being a dick to the new-comer again, although he's almost always a dick, he had been extra hard on Eren and he wants to stop yet something about the kid ruffles his feathers every time they meet eyes. That's it, his eyes; Eren's eyes are always glowing with fiery determination whenever they're conversing and some part of Levi particularly enjoys trying to add fuel to the fire, it's rather like instincts. Levi thought it was difficult dealing with the defiant brat but he could not be more wrong for it got 10 folds harder when Eren turned the tables around and was nice to him for a change with the breakfast offer. He had no idea how to reciprocate kindness for heaven's sake and it gave him some kind of weird turbulence (happiness?) within his systems which he wasn't sure he detested. How was he going to get that feeling back? It disappeared as quickly as it appeared. And now, he spat at Gunther for what? Making Eren smile? He must be going bat-shit insane, he knew madness was infectious; spending too much time with Hanji had finally caught up with him. He had contracted the deadly, crazy disease. God help him. It's been less than 3 hours and Levi's sick of the day already. He's ready for it to end, ready to drop these emotions and feelings, ready to return to being the stoic man he is. However, nothing ever goes his way, does it? He's currently on his way to scout out a useless security post with no possible leads whatsoever for his newest case and this day could not get any worse. Levi remained silent for the rest of the drive, deliberating on the best way to tackle the current issue at hand. How are they going to get themselves out of this dead-knot in their investigations?

Eren steadily reversed the vehicle into the parking spot before putting on the brakes and switching the engine off. They had finally arrived at Wall Rose Apartments and even though he's dying to visit the scene of murder, he was more than ready to begin a mad search for clues left behind by the assailants in the guard post. If the suspect was so desperate to retrieve the security footage, it must have captured something important… the culprit could have been entirely caught on camera to prove their guilt. Nevertheless, the team won't be able to get their hands on that side of the evidence anymore.

Levi confidently lead the way to their destination and upon entering the room, the trio was greeted with smashed up monitors that were screwed onto the wall, a slightly unhinged door, broken pieces of technical equipment scattered around the dimly lit room and a flustered looking man in a security outfit.

"Were there any casualties?" The first person who spoke was undoubtedly Levi.

"Yes inspector, my colleague, John was unconscious when I came to take over the shift in the morning. He's been taken to the hospital though, the paramedics told me he had lost some blood but thankfully, it was not fatal," the security guard informed.

"How bad is the damage?" Levi asked again as he moved around the room, careful to not step on any broken parts lying on the ground. He flicked a wrist forward signaling for both Eren and Gunther to begin their search too.

"Pretty darn bad. The guys from the tech company who were scheduled to come in for repairs this morning did an evaluation. They said that most of the equipment is beyond salvage and the ones that they'd managed to start up have lost all data; so everything in this room is as good as trash now." The man scratched his untamed beard hesitantly before uncertainly saying, "But uh, with my basic IT skills, yesterday night during my shift, I copied some corrupted files onto my thumb drive to try and recover them at home. Needless to say, I failed terribly, but you can have the drive if you want to, Inspector. Here you go." He passed the small, red memory stick to Levi.

"Well shit, the first good thing that has happened to me since sunrise," Levi mumbled softly and glanced at the guard's name tag before clearly expressing, "Good job, Bob." That unexpectedly rhymed. He pocketed the evidence before requesting for a few more minutes to completely sweep the area for clues.

Just as Levi was about to call off the search and head up to meet with Team A, Eren piped up from under the massive counter, "Captain, I've found something!"

* * *

 _ **More Notes: Also apologising for the short chapter, I was planning to go longer but my eye couldn't take it any further. Leaving a Favourite for the story would help out a bunch, so don't forget to do that! Peace**_


	7. Chapter 6: Deduction

Chapter 6: Deduction

Eren was on all fours under the counter that held a number of monitors and keyboards, leaning in closer to further inspect the artifact that may be potential evidence against the culprit. He made sure not to pick it up or touch it to prevent contaminating it with his finger prints.

"That's a cufflink," the captain declared in close proximity and Eren could feel Levi's breath caress his left cheek. Wait, when did he crawl in next to Eren? A sudden wave of self-awareness hit Eren right in his guts and to make matters worse, his face heated up with a pinkish tint colouring his cheeks. Fortunately, for both Eren's pride and sanity, he was well veiled by the shadow casted upon him from being under a huge desk.

He tried to gather his composure to affirm, "Y-yes sir, I believe that's uh, a, uh, design from Garrisons." Apparently, composure was not gathered, not at all.

Eren's stutter was what caused Levi to bring his head up, opening his mouth to speak, yet no words managed to fall on his lips when he was met with a pair of jade green eyes staring right back at him in what might possibly be bashfulness. He too realised the intimacy of the situation and made an effort to shift away from Eren before attempting to speak again. He decided against commenting on Eren's strange response now that it was clear that he was the reason for the uncomfortableness.

"Gunther, pass the collection kit over," Levi said in a calm tone even though his heart strangely raced on. Fuck, his body and mind are both out of control today.

Eren noticed the slight distance that Levi consciously put between them and he wasn't certain if he was entirely grateful for that. _What?_

Maybe, just maybe, he had found the pair of steel grey eyes slightly enrapturing. _Again, what?_

"This is not the time to be gay, Eren," he reprimanded himself silently. "Also, he's obviously not your type. Don't let the fan in you take over, self. He's not the idol you thought he was."

Yes, Captain Levi's a jackass. He had to recall that to barely manage to regain his calm.

"Here you go, sir." Gunther sounded from behind them.

A compact, matte black briefcase skidded over to Levi from Gunther and Levi swiftly clicked open the kit. The content of the kit included stainless steel tweezers, zip-top evidence bags, cotton swabs, magnifying glass, fluorescent orange labels and other miscellaneous tools. Watching Levi pick the equipment required to procure this evidence seemed all so surreal to Eren as it was his first time witnessing this in person. Out of all he had accomplished today (which wasn't much), this made him finally feel like a member of the CID, a member of Squad Levi.

Levi handed a small zip-top bag to Eren and instructed, "Hold this open brat."

He then made use of the tweezers to transfer the cufflink into the pouch in delicate motions which did not seem to match his contrasting, coarse attitude. Eren was positively astonished by Levi's careful movements, but not to the point of him forgetting to seal the bag after Levi deposited the evidence inside of it. Both men immediately pulled out from their unsettling positions, one with the evidence in his left hand and the other with the briefcase clutched tightly in his right hand.

"Hey Bob, you seen this cufflink before?" Levi asked, pointing towards the evidence in Eren's hand with his thumb.

Bob, the security officer, squinted his eyes at the cufflink and shook his head, "Nah, that looks way too expensive for anyone who works here to afford, honestly."

"Thought so. Alright, we're done here for today then. Thanks for your help and co-operation Bob, your drive will probably help us crack the case. Great job," Levi rested a hand on Bob's shoulder encouragingly as he made a move out of the raided room with both subordinates tailing behind.

"Glad I could help and good luck on the case!" Bob cheered on.

Walking out of the room, Eren softly asked, "Who the hell wears a suit to break into a security compound?"

"A suit?" Gunther parroted.

"It's a cufflink Gunther, what else could he be wearing that needs cufflinks?" Eren informed and continued, "not to mention, a Garrison designer cufflink. These guys cost about $200 per pair."

Gunther gasped audibly, "Woah."

"And who said it was a he?" Levi quipped from the front.

"What? It's a men cufflink, captain. No way it's a female culprit," Eren disbelievingly said.

"Tch, did I say it was a woman?"

"I'm not exactly catching your drift captain…" Eren trailed off.

"It was done by a they," Levi dimly answered. "To simplify it for you, dumbass, 'they' means more than one person," he mocked.

Eren flushed in mild anger at being made a joke but couldn't seem to offer any sort of sarcastic retort for he had not even considered a possibility of there being more than 1 culprit. He irresistibly begged for enlightenment, "Why do you think this wasn't done by 1 person, sir?"

Levi was taken aback at Eren's genuine tone, he had fully expected a disrespectful comeback from an enraged newbie, and instead he had been left with yet another surprise. He took a second to quietly wonder, how many more surprises will Eren Jaeger deliver in the future?

Levi had always found having to explain himself a cumbersome chore, but somehow he knew Eren wouldn't stop till he gets an answer. So to spare himself of the constant whining, he sucked in a breath to reply, "It was a synchronised attack done by 2 professionals. They were probably quite the experts in the IT department and also in infiltration. Notice how they've left zero fingerprints, no unnecessary damage to anything else other than the PCs and only the door to the operations room was unhinged. They knew exactly where to find it before stepping into this building. For a breach as well tackled as this, they couldn't have only sent 1 person in without a 2nd man as look-out. There were at least 2 people on the job and they must have been quite the expensive mercenaries judging by that cufflink."

Eren butted in, "Mercenaries? You think they were hired by someone?"

"Hired by the murderer who killed Kitts Woerman, yes. If these people were the same person who killed Kitts, they wouldn't need to drug him prior to ending his life, would they? They took down a trained guard when breaking into this place and kicked down a door, they could have easily taken Woerman out without the aid of sleeping pills."

"That's… wow. You're right," Eren mumbled. Levi had managed to gather all that just by glancing over the scene of crime?

"That's amazing, Captain," He praised in awe, he was abruptly reminded of the reason he had idolised Inspector Levi before today.

"That's our captain for ya!" Gunther proudly declared in place of Levi.

"Tch," the captain clicked his tongue as the trio made their exit from the small security outpost beside the main apartment complex.

"Cap'n, should I ring Eld to tell them we're going up now?" Gunther offered with his cellphone already situated in his hand.

"Yea, we'll head up now. Eren," Levi took the USB out of his left pocket and tossed it over to Eren, "Go stash this and the evidence in the car and join us up in the apartment. We might want to do a re-enactment and some more snooping around."

"Yes sir!" Eren saluted with new-found respect for his squad leader before hiking towards the spacious carpark under the huge apartment building.

With his little alone time, Eren began playing Levi's deduction in his imagination. He was picturing how it all went down from the moment the infiltrators disabled the alarm systems to when they broke into the small single-story building, stealthily sneaking to the operations room, taking down the guard on duty and successfully making their escape all without leaving much of any evidence. The more he replayed the scene in his head, the greater the possibilities of there having been 2 culprits seemed. Damn, Levi's amazing.

Eren finally reached the vehicle after a good 8 minutes of leisurely strolling. He quickly deposited the valuables before it got long enough for Levi to whine about his dilly-dallying. Just as he was about to head towards the lift lobby to move up and regroup with the team, a loud boom echoed throughout the underground carpark. Eren sprang upright and instincts screamed at him that it was an explosion. Judging from the volume of it, Eren thinks it most definitely came from the security station that he'd just left with Levi and Gunther. And… Bob was still in there. Without further ado, Eren slammed the door to the car close, made sure he had his holstered gun right by his waist and sprinted towards the source of the explosion. He desperately hoped that he would get there in time.

* * *

Thank you so much for the love and support that this fic has received. I will be forever grateful to each and everyone of you :)


	8. Chapter 7: Explosion

Chapter 7: Explosion

"Found anything new?" Levi queried as he lifted the police tapes sealing off the entrance to the apartment with an arm to fit his body through the gap.

The spacious flat held 5 rooms in total, with walls painted in modern black and white stripes which appeared to be the theme of the interior design. Black and white furniture lined the wide and opened living room, from striped carpet to a bleached sofa accompanied by a dark coffee table. The lofty décor of the home speaks level about its owner; modernly styled with designer furniture and costly paint jobs, what a squanderer Woerman must have been. Even though a little audacious, it was not a terribly furbished apartment, it also looked plenty new but that's because it was new. From what the CID had managed to gather, Woerman was one of Wall Rose's newest occupants. It was a pity that a place like that had as quickly as it gained its master, lost it.

"No sir, not even a strand of hair," Eld informed from beside the television console screwed into the wall and below the gigantic flat screen monitor.

Petra stood up by pushing off of Auruo's shoulder to ask, "How about you guys? Was the damage bad?" Both of them were by the white outline of Kitt Woerman's corpse that was near the black granite Kitchen counter.

"Looked like a tornado tore through it frankly," Gunther provided as he followed in behind Levi, "But we did procure some data from the guard on last night's duty. We might be in luck this time."

Levi skillfully maneuvered past the police markings made on the planked floor straight to the master bedroom as everyone passed their exchanges and instructed, "Continue searching until the rookie dipshit shows up. Don't –"

A resounding blast reverberated through the apartment which cut him off mid-sentence and a moment of panic seized him – Eren.

"What was that?" Auruo yelled first, unsurprisingly.

At that instance, Levi took off without turning back when Eld chased after him a second later, calling out as the entire team darted towards the emergency exit, "That was an explosion!"

"And I left Eren down there," Levi spat while hopping down the stairs three steps at a time as a memory of a brown haired officer dashing into a flame engulfed corridor flitted across his peripheral causing him to almost trip.

"But we don't know if that came from the ground!" Petra harped.

"It came from the security post. Fuck it, I should have known that they would come back for the cufflink," Levi cursed and boldly hopped over the railings onto the next flight of stairs. He silently cursed again that the god forsaken apartment was up on the 18th floor and that they're still only on the 15th. _He desperately hoped that he would get there in time._ In time exactly for what though, he had no idea.

A handful of people began to stream out of the main complex, gasping at the security station with black smoke fuming out of it. In his hurry, Eren pulled some of the onlookers back with force and shouted, "Stay back! This is dangerous!"

He fished his gun out from the holster and clutched it tightly with both hands, ready to pull the trigger at any given time. The crowd that was steadily growing recognised the weapon that Eren held and promptly proceeded to distance themselves from the smoking building. The metal door to the station was busted open, with scorched mark scarring the walls surrounding the frame as well as the ground adjacent to it. The bomb must have detonated outside to blow the lock on that door. That meant, Bob might still be unharmed and the assholes who threw this place in chaos could still be in there with him. Eren locked his arms, pointed the nose of his gun to the ground and cautiously stalked towards the entryway. He might hold the element of surprise if the attackers did not know that the police were here already. This was possibly an act of desperation to retrieve or destroy the misplaced cufflink left behind from last night's invasion. The bastards knew they had no time to spare as the authorities have undoubtedly been contacted by now, so they went straight for the direct approach – blowing this place to shit. Hence, Bob was in terrible danger even as Eren creeped around.

To hell with it, Eren with his back against the wall, spun to face the empty corridor he had walked down not long ago, prepared to fire his ammunition at inexistent ninjas he thought for sure would be standing right there. Instead, he was faced with a still body lying flat on the ground, blood pooling under his weight.

Eren let his guard drop as he ran over to inspect the casualty, "Bob! Stay with me man."

Heavily panting, Bob warned, "th-they… monitor roo-room… careful." As if on cue, a loud gunshot came from further down the corridor where the monitor room was situated.

Eren assured to the brave guard that help will be coming soon and pleaded for him to stay awake till the ambulance arrives, but he knew that fell on deaf ears as Bob's vigorous breaths came to an abrupt stop. With a spark of rage derived from Bob's unjust death fueled by determination to bring these murdering douchebags to justice, Eren stood with a fierce look in his eyes and treaded towards the monitor room with caution, leaving Bob's warm corpse behind with his prayers.

"Fuck this, I'm setting up the bomb. It's too small to find right now and we have no time for that," Eren heard a muffled voice hissed to his accomplice before rounding the next corner.

"We've got 1 minute to blow this joint starting from…" before Eren could decide upon his action, the same muffled voice hollered, "Now! Let's go!"

It was now or never. Eren poked his figure out from behind the wall and pulled the trigger at the men in suits, wearing black masks over their head who were making a dash for the back door emergency exit. As expected of the Sharpshooting champion, he nailed one of them in their left calf, slowing their movements down plenty.

"Shit!" The guy who was shot groaned in pain but quickly took cover in a random room while his partner fired a covering shot at Eren who was scraped by the bullet on his right arm.

"It's a cop, just one!"

"Fuck him, we're all going to be dead in another 40 seconds. Let's go!"

Eren heard the rustling of clothes as the men attempted to make their escape while Eren was taking cover behind the wall. They fired more warning shots back at Eren to make sure that he couldn't catch up. 30 seconds. Eren debated on whether he should give chase or make his own escape and without wasting another second on hesitating, he pushed himself off his feet to try and capture the men in suits. He knew he couldn't just let them walk away like that, not after he had managed to injure one of them.

"Eren, where are you!" Levi's voice could be heard as Eren was about to round the corner to come face to face with the assholes who killed Bob. 25 seconds. Fuck.

"Get out! There's a bomb!" He screamed back at Levi who didn't seem to be stopping by the sound of his footsteps getting closer and closer; that stubborn son of a bitch. 15 seconds.

Eren could see Levi's silhouette now approaching him at mad speed, he groaned in frustration and sprinted towards the short figure, rapidly grabbing Levi by his arm and dragging both of them out of the building. Those asshats would have to wait.

"I said there was a bomb!" Eren chided as his grasped on Levi tightened.

"And I asked for your position dumbass!"

They rushed past Bob's dead body. 1 second.

"Fuck, get down!" Eren alerted loudly and dived through the opening, out of the building with Levi in his arms.

A deafening roar followed by a fury of shockwave sent Eren and Levi off the ground, throwing them meters away from the building now set aflame. Panicked screams accompanied the dark fumes which poured out of the crumbling construction while Eld, Gunther, Auruo and Petra raced forward to both Levi and Eren, cradling each other in their arms to protect the other from the impact of explosion. Unfortunately, Eren had managed to hit the ground first, aggravating the wound he had received from the gunfight with the bombers. Blood stained his right sleeve and coupled with the shock from the explosion, his vision slowly blurred into pitch blackness,

The last thing he heard was Levi's soft and weak voice mumbling, "You promised…"

Levi watched as Eren's eyes fluttered close, he could feel the sticky wetness of blood on his hand that was holding onto Eren's right arm. For reasons unknown, he felt completely vulnerable, he felt like 5 years old again but only for an instance until he could hear Petra calling out for him.

"Captain! Are you okay?"

He forced himself to sit up albeit the pain in his ribs, they must have hit the ground harder than he'd thought they did. He observed Eren's light rise and fall of the chest before reassuring his team, "I'm fine. Turn Eren over and apply pressure to his wound, he's bleeding out." He'd regained his usual composure. Good.

Gunther immediately followed his instructions to attempt to slow Eren's bleeding as the blazing sirens approached. Levi let his body lean against Petra who was helping to hold him upright and issued his next order, "I'll go with Jaeger bombastic here to the hospital and the rest of you get back to HQ and get to work with the USB. We need to pin these fuckers down."

"But captain," Petra refuted.

"We'll be fine, unless any of you are doctors who can do better than those at the hospital?" Levi jested coolly.

Auruo chuckled, "I think we would just end up killing both of you. We got it Captain Levi, the case will be cracked even before you get back."

"Woah, Sir I would like to add that only Auruo made that guarantee. We don't promise anything," Eld joked as the Ambulance rushed in through the gates.

Levi stared at Auruo emotionlessly, saying, "I'll take your word for it Auruo. You'd better show some results when I get back."

Auruo visibly trembled and faked a proud laugh as the ambulance pulled into the area. Men in green uniform wearing surgical gloves jumped off the back of the ambulance wheeling stretchers out. The paramedics swiftly applied first aid to Eren's injury and supported Levi onto one of the stretchers as preparations to ship them off to the hospital. After the medics moved to lift Eren onto the other stretcher, Levi sent the squad back to work. He took a chance and stole a glance at Eren, feeling a weight lift off his chest when he saw the kid properly bandaged up with a peaceful look donning his features. Today has been a long day and not even half of it has passed. Levi let his eyes fall shut as he berated the life that he has been forced to live.

Eren Jaeger woke up to pain soaring through his systems. He put a hand over his eyes to shield the bright light that greeted him with fervor. He vaguely remembers being rushed to the A&E and nothing else after that. He had no clue how long he had been asleep. Looking around after he got used to the brightness of the room, he found himself in solitary in a white washed room, heavily scented with a minty air-freshener and a jug of water next to his bed and IV drip. Suddenly finding himself thirsty, he grabbed a cup and attempted to pour water into it using his completely useless left hand since he was a strong right-hander. And of course, the defiant water spilled itself all over the place before Eren could fill the white, plastic cup; definitely not his fault, it was the water. Eren eventually blames the doctor for rendering him handicapped by putting his right arm in a cast, they didn't need to do that, he had always been a fast healer since young from getting into fights all the time.

A light sound of vibration startled Eren slightly as he watered his dry throat and he realised that his phone was by the bedside table all along. The iPhone model lit up, showing that it was 4:27pm, which means Eren had been under anesthetic for about 4 hours now. Woah. Half the day just flew right by, it only seemed like seconds ago that he was chasing down bad guys and… Bob's dead. Though they've only just became acquainted, having witness someone's death was still a gruesome experience, the memory left a bad taste in Eren's mouth and he direly wanted it to go away. He picked his phone up and tapped on the notification as a means of distraction. Man, what are phones these days made of? Seriously, Eren came out of that mess with a broken arm and 4 hours of unconsciousness yet his phone was flawless, without a scratch and in working condition; this is plain unfair. No wonder people kept insinuating that technology will take over humans in the future.

Regardless of that, Eren looked back down on his phone. There was a message received from, "My Favourite Sister", damn it, Mikasa renamed herself in Eren's Contacts again. He smiled at his screen and figured he would keep that for now.

" _Eren, remember to meet me after work today, we're having a party at Krista's."_

Oh crap, she was talking about the celebration party that the crew was holding for him for his first day at the CID. How could he forget about that? How should he approach this?

He pondered for a second and typed,

" _About that, Mika… I can't make it."_

The reply that came was almost immediate.

" _What, why not?"_

" _There was an issue."_

" _What 'issue'?"_

Shit, she used the quotation marks, she knows what's up.

" _I'm at the hospital?"_

'Incoming call from My Favourite Sister' flashed on the screen of Eren's phone as it vibrated vigorously in his hand.

Eren swallowed his saliva, prepping himself mentally before picking up, "H-hi Mikasa."

"Eren, why are you in the hospital?" She sounded extremely serious.

"I, uh, there was an explosion," Eren stuttered before realising that, that might not have been the best way to start things off.

"WHAT?" Mikasa shrieked and Eren almost dropped his phone. He could hear the whispers of people surprised by Mikasa's outbreak in the background.

"I mean, yes, I was caught in an explosion, but I got out in time and I'm totally fine Mika. Just a broken arm and a gunshot wound." He quickly explained to only make things worse than it already is.

"YOU WERE SHOT?" Mikasa squealed again, it sounded much like she was about to hyperventilate. "Eren, which hospital? I'm coming over right now!" She worriedly exclaimed.

"It's only a scratch from a strayed bullet Mikasa, no big deal. I'm at St. Stohess, please don't panic, I'm totally fine."

"Please don't panic? You must be joking. I'll be there in 15," The elder of the siblings stated and hung up the call before Eren could provide a respond, causing him to sigh in defeat.

A nurse dressed in bright blue uniform and a stethoscope hanging around her neck stepped into the ward. Her brunet hair was tied in a ponytail riding high on her head and she held a clipboard close to her chest.

A smile dawned upon her features as she spoke, "Hi, I'm Nurse Joy. Great to see you awake Eren, how are you feeling?"

"Much better than I did before I passed out," Eren smiled back.

"That's good to hear, sunshine. But are you feeling intense pain anywhere in particular? You did injure your ribs and fracture your right arm," Nurse Joy said as she moved her pen against the clipboard that she brought with her, furiously taking down notes.

"I did? My ribs feel okay and my right arm does hurt a little, but it's nothing I can't handle." Eren paused to think before he continued, "There was only this shocking pain when I woke up, but it disappeared almost instantly."

Nurse Joy peered up at him curiously and broke into a warm smile again, "Well, it's fantastic to hear that you're doing alright Eren. You adapt to pain quite well, we might not even have to bring you more painkillers sweetheart. But press this button if you need anything, I'll come right for you." She used her pen to point at a black button above Eren's bed.

"Ay' Aye." Eren cheerfully expressed and reclined onto his bed, a wave of tiredness washed over him.

"I'll let you get a little more rest and get you ready for X-ray later. See you Eren," She waved goodbye and left the room to Eren's lonesome self again.

The next thing Eren knew, he was shooting up from his bed when Mikasa and Armin noisily barged into his ward. He had fallen asleep while waiting for them to arrive.

"Eren! Oh my god, look at you," Mikasa anxiously proclaimed as she closed the distance between her and the bed.

Mikasa Ackerman was not Eren's actual, biological sister. The pair had only met each other at the orphanage when they were still children. Their foster parents had to pick them up together, as one wouldn't leave without the other. However, the ill-fated family broke apart 2 years later when their new parents were murdered at the holiday villa on a summer vacation. Mikasa developed an extremely protective streak over Eren after the incident when the two children were found cowering in fear in the closet the next day by the police. It was only after that, that the duo met Armin in the Shiganshina ghetto which is a story better left for another day.

"Jesus Eren, what happened? Mikasa told me you were having gunfights with the Mafia in an abandoned warehouse and they threw a grenade in your face," Armin timidly recounted Mikasa's exaggerated version of the story and double checked Eren's records, filed at the foot of his bed.

"What the hell, Mikasa? I told you I was fine. And for Christ sake, it wasn't that bad. There was a really short exchange of gunfire, no abandoned warehouses and I was mostly out of their line of shot. The explosion barely got me since I managed to get pretty far away from it. Geez, Mafias and grenades? I'm not in the SWAT team nor the Narcotics, Mikasa, that's your job." Eren clearly gave an explanation to alleviate Mikasa's anxiety and he could see it working as the tension in her brows slowly began smoothing out.

"I was afraid that you were lying to not worry me," Her face illustrated disapproval as Eren had on many occasions attempted to purposely make less of his injuries to put his sister's mind at ease.

"This time I'm being truthful, I swear."

"I know Eren. I can tell when you're lying."

Eren sulked in envy, "That sucks, I don't ever know when you're lying."

"That's because I never lie," Mikasa claimed with a poker face.

"We all know that's a lie Mikasa," Armin chirped after confirming that Eren is indeed not in danger by reading over his medical records.

Just before Mikasa could retaliate against that statement, the door to Eren's ward slammed open yet again and a group of people piled in. An array of voices begun disrupting the ambience that the room sported.

"Eren, you fought the Triads?" Connie's sharp and worried voice pierced through the crowd. Honestly, it also brought a hint of impress.

Sasha's voice could be heard next, "I heard you were starved Eren! How evil! I brought some cheese I stole from the pantry!"

Jean's annoyingness came after that, "I knew Mikasa was exaggerating. Damn, I expected your face to be blown to ugliness. Oh wait, it already is ugly."

"Jean, Eren's injured! Don't be mean," Marco immediately reprimanded, earning a puff of his cheeks from Jean.

"Yea Jean, at least give Eren some praise, I mean he did came out of that machine gun fight alive, damn…" Reiner chimed in, obviously awed by Eren's faux experience.

"Eren, how'd you survive that grenade to the face? I'm so glad you're okay," Krista innocently commented while handing Eren a cup of water. Thank you, god, for having Krista here within this fray.

Ymir, Bertholdt and Annie haven't even had a chance to speak before Eren put their barrage of questions and claims to a halt, "Okay wait, wait guys. Please. Mikasa was over exaggerating about the story. I was not fighting the mafia with a whatever machine gun and did not take a grenade to my face. I merely broke my right arm and a bullet scraped my skin. So can we all just please relax?"

"I called it!" Jean announced proudly and laughed embarrassingly when nobody cared to give him a decent respond.

"Oh thank heavens, we're just glad you weren't in grave danger," Krista smiled with motherly warmth and patted Eren's head.

"Does that mean I get to keep the cheese?" Sasha sincerely asked, causing Connie to smack her right in the arm.

He scolded, "Is this really the time to ask for cheese, Sasha? Man."

"Connie!" Sasha gasped audibly with a hand held over her mouth, "It's always time for cheese."

Annie stepped in between the two who were about to engage in their disgustingly, lovingly banter and tried to change the topic before everyone ends up on the topic of cheese and its timely purposes for the next half an hour.

She bent down at an angle and laid both of her elbows on the bed's table in front of Eren, her palms supporting her head that fell and mundanely stated, "Guess we're gonna have to postpone that celebration party."

"Or we could have it here?" Bertholdt meekly suggested instead.

At the mention of a party Ymir perked up, "Not bad Bert, I knew you were good for something." She softly nudged the taller man in the waist to get an accomplished blush out of him.

"Watch it Ymir, Bertholdt's good at a lot of things. Remember? He totally beat you in both Track and Criminology," Reiner cautioned with a smirk. As usual, he got riled up when Bertholdt was being teased.

"Che, whatever," Ymir rolled her eyes at Reiner, uninterested in getting into a troublesome argument with him.

"Wait guys, how are we partying with Eren like this? And we can't be loud, it's gonna bother the other patients," Armin chipped in with his downer advice, "We can do this another day."

Mikasa folded her arms and nodded sternly, "Armin's right. Eren needs to rest."

"Can you guys please stop talking to each other as if I'm not right fucking here?" Eren complained from his position, his face scrounged up into a frown.

"Awwww does someone want to be babied? Krista's doing all that on her own just fine," Jean cooed at Eren wearing a smug look.

"Shut the fuck up Jean. Krista's off limits in your little 'bickers', I thought I made that fucking clear the last time," Ymir glared at Jean, unamused.

"Relax wild cat, she's all yours," Jean apologised. Yes, that was as good as an apology from Jean it could get.

A few insults were thrown around and across the confined area. Bickers turned into arguments and everyone's voices went on a straight crescendo to cacophony. A few more minutes of chaos ensued before Eren twisted his head to stuff it into his pillow. He grunted gaudily in frustration. Everyone's chattering came to a silent stop.

A concerned sounding Mikasa then proceeded to ask, "Eren, are you okay?"

He loves his friends, he really does, but them being in this suffocating room with nothing but pent up bad mood wasn't exactly the medicine he would need right now. Everyone seemed to be in foul attitude after having seen Eren injured and as much as he appreciates his friends caring for him by accompanying him, he wants them to enjoy the rest of the day without being crammed in a hospital ward, worrying about his emotional or physical health. He knew that Annie, Bert and Ymir wanted to continue the party so that Eren wouldn't feel at fault for having it cancelled. He knew that Armin and Mikasa were taking care of his wounds. And he knew that Jean just wanted Eren to feel normal, because Eren hated taking pities. Everyone wanted Eren to feel better in their own weird ways and he is extra grateful for them. However, all of them needed to relax.

He sucked in a breath after getting everyone's attention to say, "Guys, I love all of you. Thanks for rushing over the moment you found out that I was hospitalised and for trying to cheer me up. I don't have an actual family but you guys are the best thing I could ever wish for. A strange as fuck family, but a family nonetheless. Sorry for spoiling the party, but I'll be fine soon and we can celebrate both my getting well and my promotion, aight? The nurse is gonna come soon to get my X-rays, so y'all should get back home and get some rest. I'll text you all later."

"Are you sure you want to be alone, Eren?" Mikasa sat down by his bed to ask.

"Yea, I'm still drowsy from medication and I just want you guys to get some rest too, honestly," Eren replied genuinely, looking into Mikasa's eyes as he did.

"Okay," Mikasa nodded as she stood up with a sigh, "Let's go guys. We should let him rest."

"Yes Madam!" Connie saluted and waved Eren goodbye with Sasha mouthing 'Love you too' to Eren, trailing behind him.

"A'ight then Eren, we'll see you when you feel better," Reiner raised two fingers as he walked out with Bertholdt saying his goodbye.

Ymir, Krista and Annie gave him their well wishes too and promptly left the slowly emptying ward.

Last but not least, Armin and Mikasa both gave Eren a soft and heartfelt hug before reluctantly making their exit and reminding Eren to give them a call later tonight. He smiled brightly and waved them goodbye, feeling more worn out than ever, but extremely happy.

Eren fell back into slumber until Nurse Joy returned to escort him to the X-ray theatre. It was a short process which Eren appreciated for he hated hospital procedures. He had always found medical equipment to be creepy and gross. It wasn't that it was scary, but more so of a loathsome feeling he gets in his stomach whenever he came close to any. As if his body was repelling treatment and medicine. On his way back to his room, Nurse Joy wheeled Eren past a similar looking ward to his, that had its door left slightly ajar. Eren couldn't help but to sneak a peek into the lit room and was surprised at seeing Captain Levi sitting comfortably on the recliner in the room.

He looked up to the brunet Nurse and said, "Nurse Joy, thanks for getting me this far but I'll get back to my ward myself from here. I want to give my boss a visit first, is that fine?"

"Of course, sunshine. I'll see you later tonight then," she brimmed with delight before continuing on in her footsteps while Eren wheeled himself back to Levi's ward.

He knocked a few times before greeting, "Captain Levi, may I?"

"Come in," came an uninterested reply.

Levi was perched on the recliner with his legs crossed and a detective novel in his left hand. His right arm was in a sling and although Eren could not see it, he had his torso in bandages from fracturing his ribs.

Eren rolled forwards in his wheelchair and inquired, "How are you feeling?"

"That's a stupid question," Levi responded without looking up from his book, ticking Eren off.

"Well, aren't you the politest?" Eren's face fell and he began to regret his decision of moving into the ward in the first place.

"Why are you such a jackass to me, Sir? I don't see you talking to Petra like that."

"Well shit, I didn't know you had a pussy. Sorry m'lady."

"Seriously? Fuck you."

"No, thank you but I appreciate the offer."

Eren rolled his eyes, "Do you really? Appreciate the offer I mean."

Levi raised an eyebrow at Eren, for the very first time since Eren had entered the room, he looked up from his novel.

"Made you look," Eren cheered with a grin.

"You're an idiot, brat," Levi insulted as he bookmarked his novel and set it down beside him. He continued, "Why didn't you run?"

"Huh?" Eren tilted his head to the side.

Shit why does Levi think it looks… cute? He hated cute, at least that's what he thought.

"When you knew there was a bomb, dumbass, you didn't run immediately."

"I shot one of the jacks in the leg, I was going to give chase."

"There was less than 40 seconds on the bomb, you might have died."

"And?" Eren widened his eyes this time, challenging Levi.

"What the fuck's wrong with you? You could have died." Levi hated being challenged. Maybe…

"I know, you said that the first time. So? I could also have nailed the 2 mother fuckers who killed Bob in cold-blood."

Levi was the one to tilt his head to the side this time, "Then why did you turn back when you saw me?"

Shit, why does Eren's face feel warm all of a sudden? Stop it, face.

"I-uh, I… frankly don't know. It just happened. My body moved on its own when you appeared. Like it knew to not risk your life along with mine? I don't know, sir."

"We're not on duty, you don't have to call me sir, brat."

"Then will you stop calling me 'brat'?" Eren used his fingers to air-quote the word.

"No."

"Then that's too bad, Sir."

"Brat."

For some reason, Eren's heart skipped a beat, he could feel it.

"Sir."

At that, Levi's heart seemed to malfunction for an instance, must be an after effect from the medicine.

"Get out of my ward, Jaeger," Levi picked his book back up, he willed the hotness he felt beneath his skin away.

"Gladly, Captain," Eren spun his wheelchair around quickly to hide the blush he knew was for sure creeping up his cheeks. "Goodnight, Levi," he muttered ever so softly under his breath as he shut the door behind him to make sure Levi couldn't hear.

Little did he know, Levi mouthed the same words as the door clicked shut, "Goodnight, Eren." Both parties oblivious to the other's final greeting of the evening.

* * *

 _ **We're honestly not even 1/4 into the story, so be prepared for longer chapters like this one coming along! :) Thank you for reading~**_


	9. Chapter 8: Resolution

Chapter 8: Resolution

Eren slowly blinked his eyes open at the sound of his name being called. The cool breeze that brushed his skin and the soft touch of the cozy, warm sunshine were making it hard to break away from sleep. It was only the face which was casting a shadow upon his very own that really woke him up.

"Eren, it's time to head back," A young Mikasa said, kneeling next to Eren.

Eren could feel cold sweat draping across his forehead and also a strong sense of confusion overwhelming him.

He couldn't resist asking, "Huh, Mikasa? Where am I?"

"You were sleeping _that_ soundly?" She stood up to question.

"No, it just… felt like I was having a really long dream," Eren sat up to lean against the big tree they were both taking shelter under. "What was it about again? I don't remember a thing," He brought a hand to his head, trying to recall.

Mikasa turned to walk towards a pile of wood, stack neatly atop a makeshift wooden sling that she could carry just like a bag and hoisted it across her back.

She looked back to Eren, ready to depart for home but her stoic expression was replaced with concern when she asked, "Eren, why are you crying?"

"What?" Eren gasped as he stared into the distance at a huge wall surrounding a village and the field he and Mikasa were at.

His eyes flew opened and his body jerked awake for real this time. Eren was back on the hospital bed and he could hear the steady beeping of the Heart Monitor. Something felt extremely wrong and Eren knew it wasn't because he was waking up in a foreign environment. Why couldn't he remember the dream that had him quivering awake?

More importantly, why is he crying? He lifted his left arm and used the sleeve of his hospital robe to wipe away the remaining tears threatening to spill on the brim of his eyes. Maybe his eyes were just dehydrated, that must be it. Eren noticed the bright light that filtered through the binds and deduced that it was already morning. He grabbed his cellphone off of the small bedside table to check for the time which revealed a small note planted beneath it.

 _The note read: "Good morning Eren! We're over at the Captain's ward for a visit, swing by when you're awake, sweetheart. – Petra"_

It was currently 8.07 a.m., that's way too early for visiting. Not that Eren gave a shit; he desperately needed something to do anyway. He had asked Nurse Joy whether he would be discharged soon last night and she only said that he would get his answer later today. Eren could never stand the nothing-to-do-ness of the hospital and the loneliness that it brings. The encounter with Levi in his ward in the previous evening was pretty much the only interesting thing that had happened to Eren after admission and that says a lot.

He pushed himself up of bed and dragged his IV drip along to the private wash room. The wheelchair that Nurse Joy had him use last night was left forgotten in the corner; Eren didn't need that to move around, it didn't even hurt to walk. He quickly proceeded with the usual washing up process and brushed his messy locks with one hand, not actually accomplishing much with it. Giving up on taming his mane, a refreshed Eren, made his way over to Levi's ward in light footsteps.

He tapped on the door with his knuckles and announced, "It's me, Eren."

Petra was the one who swung the door open for him and boy was he glad to see people other than Nurse Joy.

"Good morning Eren!" Petra greeted with joy.

"Good morning everyone," he walked in and Petra helped close the door behind them.

"Hey Eren, how're ya feeling pal?" Gunther was the next to greet.

"As great as a pair of broken ribs can get," the brunet with bedhead jokingly replied.

"Shouldn't you be crippled and in a wheel chair?" Auruo snorted.

"I'm perfectly capable to walk," Eren puffed, "and jump."

He didn't have to, but Eren jumped to prove a point and effectively winced in pain. If his ribs weren't fractured before, he was sure they are now. Chalk that up to the list of 'Bad Ideas of Eren Jaeger Volume III'.

"Idiot," Levi chided, "Eld, get the shitty brat a seat."

Eren hastily dropped to the chair that Eld brought and mouthed his thanks all while clutching onto his side even though the pain was slowly subsiding. He then lifted his head to look at the laptop that was situated on the table that everyone was surrounding before Eld spoke.

"The IT team managed to salvage all of the data in this drive that we retrieved. The footage captured was from the camera built into the elevator that operates in the main apartment complex."

"So, did we get anything good out of it?" Levi questioned.

"At 20:30 of the night the murder occurred, a person in a black cloak and baseball cap was seen riding the lift to the 18th floor. The same person was not seen taking the elevator back down. That was the only suspicious activity we picked up," Petra chimed in.

Auruo was the next to add, "But there was nothing indicating to who that person was. And he was wearing a pair of black gloves, clever to not leave behind any finger prints if possible."

"And the cufflink?" Levi reminded.

Gunther was the one to respond this time, "No fingerprints left on the cufflink and even though it was a Garrison's design, they've sold over thousands of it, it's impossible to track the owner." He sighed, "We're at a dead-end, Captain."

"But, didn't we think the infiltrators were mercenaries? They particularly wore suits to their job, even when they went back to bomb the place. Could be some sort of professional…" Eren thoughtlessly uttered.

That sounded ridiculous. Of course these people were professional, 'professional' is such a broad term. He might as well have said nothing and that would have been an even greater help. God, y'know what? If we're talking about help, Eren needs the most help out of all, in getting his mouth to co-ordinate with his brain.

"The kid's right," Levi supported.

What did he say? Eren's right? No way in hell that came from Levi.

But it did and Levi reasoned, "I know an agency. It's a bodyguard agency which doubles as a security agency. They offer private to corporate level protection. Needless to say, they fucking love wearing those shitty ass suits."

"Sir, are you talking about Trost Special Services?" Petra looked up from her mobile to ask. She must have searched it.

"Yes, that's the one. Petra, look into their clientele. I want to know who and where they've been contracted to. Auruo, Eld and Gunther, the three of you make sure to tighten the security around the crime scene and I need you to sweep that place again. Look for anything out of place especially in the master bedroom. I'm not sure what yet, but just see if anything stands out and report back. Re-enact the crime scene if you must." Levi paused and turned to Eren, "You and I will look through that security footage until we find something."

"Yes sir!" The entire squad answered in unison.

"We'll be off then, please don't push yourselves too much boys," Petra had to advise before they took off; her motherly instincts was not letting it go.

Eren couldn't resist a smile as he responded with a, "Yes, mum!"

She giggled and was the last to leave the room even after everyone else bade their farewell. It was just Levi and Eren left in the room, along with the laptop that the squad had brought with them. Levi booted the machine up and shifted his body to leave a gap on his bed.

He jadedly warned, "If you touch me with your germs, I _will_ be breaking all of your fingers."

"Did you just casually threaten to render me handicap like it was nothing?" Eren stood up and climbed onto Levi's bed, filling the spot the raven had made for him.

"I wasn't threatening you. I was simply informing you of a possible outcome from infecting me with your dirty germs, brat."

"Excuse you, sir, but I'm plenty clean."

"I could go on all day about how you're not 'plenty clean' or we can get to work. Make a choice, Jaeger," Levi offered despite not leaving Eren much of a choice.

"Okay, okay. I get it, no touching. Like I wanted to touch you anyway," Eren raised a hand to surrender and that came out sounding a little more offensive than he had expected.

He tried to salvage the situation, "I mean, it's not that I don't want to touch you because you're not attractive. I didn't mean it like that, it's because it'd be quite wei-"

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "You're making it a hell lot worse, dumbass. Can we just do this?" He gestured a hand at the monitor.

"Y-yea, sorry." Way to make it awkward, Eren.

The nurses brought breakfasts to the pair after a few minutes into the recording. They each grabbed their own portion and ate while scrutinizing the video, careful not to miss any important details. They finally got to the point where the cloaked man appeared on screen and it went on a few more hours until the video was cut off, with no signs of the same person getting back onto the elevator. So, where did he disappear to? The two detectives replayed the recording for what had seemed like over a hundred times for the next few hours at tripled speed, only slowing down when the cloaked individual appeared. They desperately tried to catch something, anything that could help and the more time had passed, the more bleak the chances seemed.

It was at about mid-noon that Eren began to grumble, "I can't believe this doesn't help at all. Was this what those assholes were trying to destroy? It's got nothing."

"The camera in the foyer might have caught this shitty guy's face and more. We just got unlucky with this one," Levi's sigh was laced with fatigue.

Eren's face fell for a second but was soon replaced with sheer determination, "We can't give up. A man who believed we could crack the case died in the hands of evil. For Bob, we can't give up. Even if there's nothing we can find, this video at least told us it was only one person. That's a lot to go on already."

Levi was stunned by the grin Eren bore, his expression full of resolve and faith and it was unbelievably bright. He had never seen anything like it before.

It brought upon a very rare and barely visible raise of his lips, "You're right. We will do Bob justice, I promise."

Eren only smiled back even brighter as both of them returned their attention to the screen with renewed energy.

After both of them rejected the offer of painkillers from their respective nurses and had finished dinner, they still have yet to make solid progress with what was on hand. Disheartened, Eren suppressed a yawn and turned to Levi to suggest that they turn in for the night and try again tomorrow. However, the spectacle before him stopped him right in his tracks, preventing him from uttering a single word.

Levi was fast asleep, while sitting upright and cross-legged. Shit, that's adorable. Eren quickly placed a hand over his mouth to hide his shit-eating grin. From who? He doesn't know but he was too self-conscious at this stage to care. Levi's head drooped to the side a little, his usual constipated expression (as Eren likes to call it) was washed over by tranquil calmness and it reminded Eren of a baby. It was precious and Eren knew he had to capture the moment. Stealthily, he picked his phone up and made sure it was on silent before turning off the flash on his camera. He pointed the lens at Levi's figure and successfully acquired a few shots. Victory! Feeling extra triumphant, he put his phone back down on the sheets and watched Levi's steady, rise and fall of the chest as some sort of strange reward for himself. His eyes trailed up and finally landed on Levi's face again causing him to smile once more. He felt like a creep, but a really happy creep, so he was fine with that. A few minutes passed by with Eren studying Levi's feature, not daring to breathe too loudly, in case it disturbed the peaceful raven-locks. Levi had high cheekbones, graceful eyelashes and a strong, defined jawline. His pale skin matches his dark strands perfectly and Eren was barely holding back the temptation to dig his hand into Levi's hair.

He eventually came to a logical conclusion that he couldn't be sitting here, staring at his boss for the whole night. Well, he technically could, but how the fuck is he going to explain that when Levi wakes up? He shook his head to clear it of useless and stupid thoughts of excuses he could come up with for sleeping next to Levi in the morning. Eren used his functioning hand to gently pull Levi back onto the sheets, guiding his head to fall softly on the pillow and tucked the injured man into the covers. He slowly crawled out of the bed, trying his hardest to not jostle the mattress too much with his movements. Eren gave himself an imaginary pat on the back after managing to reach the door without waking Levi up. He looked back at the sleeping silhouette one last time after switching off the lights and opened the door to make his exit.

As he took a step out, a soft and gentle sound came from the bed, "Good night, Eren."

This must be the millionth genuine smile Eren had worn today as he responded, "Good night, Levi."

They had managed to hear each other tonight alright.

Eren made it back to his ward with his heart racing in his chest. He threw himself onto his bed, neglecting the pain that almost instantly fired back at him. Burying his head into his pillow, he muffled a shameful squeal that escaped his lips. What. The. Fuck. Happened back there? What was that warm and fuzzy feeling that took over his body? What was he thinking when he pictured landing a kiss on Levi's cheek? The memory of that sent Eren into immediate regret. Does he… does he have a crush on Levi now? Was that what it was? The brunette lifted his head up to ponder. Eren Jaeger was usually an oblivious moron, but when he has an answer, nothing can make him second guess himself. He likes Captain Levi. Crap.

Eren looked to the ceiling and whispered in despair, "God, _please_ give me a break."

* * *

If anyone was confused about the first part of the chapter, Eren was dreaming. And that dream was the first few minutes of the first episode of the Attack on Titan Anime.


	10. Chapter 9: Questions

Chapter 9: Questions

Back in Ward B-13, the room was shrouded in unease tension. With nothing better to direct his frustration at, Levi put on his best 'fuck-everything' expression and scowled up at the ceiling. With any more force, he could probably bring down the whole infrastructure.

What the fuck was wrong with him?

Why in the fucking universe did he act as if he was still asleep?

There was no need for that. He could have easily snapped awake the moment he felt Eren's breath hitched, when Eren's soft touch landed on his bare arm to angle him onto the bed. But he didn't.

Maybe it was the fact that the incessant brat has finally sealed his trap after yapping all day. Levi had just wanted the peace to last. That's it.

Despite having the need to focus at their surveillance, throughout the day, Eren had tried to initiate shallow conversations when the silence dragged out for too long. It wasn't that Levi hated making small talk, but he fucking hated making small talk and for that, his reciprocation was ultimately limited to simple hums of acknowledgement or total nonchalance.

Eren Jaeger was not deterred by the indifference shown by his superior, which was quite the pity. Or was it?

Cue the flashback to the light-hearted chat Eren had pretty much forced Levi into, roughly 3 hours ago.

 _Eren stabbed the stray broccoli on his plate with his fork and he probed, "So, Cap'n, what made you join the force?"_

" _What's it to you, kid?" The man in question impassively dealt._

 _Eren popped the overcooked green blob into his cavity and almost choked on the blandness. "Ugh this tastes like wet tissue paper." Next, he tapped his fork on the tofu to watch it jiggle. "It's just a question. Y'know, I wasn't joking about having your picture pinned up on the wall of my bedroom."_

" _Chew with your mouth closed, you're fucking disgusting."_

 _Eren willed himself to swallow and noticeably cringed. "I mean, yea, you're an asshole."_

 _Levi clicked his tongue to counter, "Tch." Honestly, that probably wasn't much of an opposition because Levi knew he could be a dick and it wasn't like he gave a shit as to what the new guy thought of him anyway._

" _But," Eren raised his fork as truce and said with the most shit-eating grin, "You wer-, are my hero. Granted, we've never met before yesterday." Haven't they?_

" _You might not have known who I was, but I knew you, Inspector Levi of the Maria's CID. You were the talk of the city and the Academy, hell your name even came up often from the Madams back in dispatching. You've been quite the successful detective, Sir." Eren's tone had adapted to one dripping with respect, "At such a young age too. You've been my goal since I was set to get into this line of duty. Mikasa, that's my elder sister, told me that I'd never make it at first. She hated the idea of me in uniform, risking my life for nothing. I didn't give up though. I said to her, 'If this guy, Levi, can do it, I don't see why I can't.' And before she could object any further, I showed her my offer of acceptance to the Police Academy. That shut her up." He chuckled at the memory._

" _Then, she decided to come after me. She didn't trust me to tackle this by myself, so she enrolled too. But to be fair, I didn't trust myself either, so I'm glad she did what she did."_

" _I don't remember asking for a backstory, brat." Levi deadpanned._

" _I-I-," Eren ducked his head and mumbled, "You're still an asshole." The brunette stuffed the entire chunk of the white stuff into his face to hide his embarrassment. Oh shit that's the cursed Tofu, he gagged, and he hadn't meant to go so deep into the story. What came over him?_

" _Never said I wasn't one." Levi smirked without sparing his companion a look his way. "But I'm not as heroic as you picture me to be, kid."_

 _Eren snatched the glass of water from the table and downed the Tofu. Okay, that was horrible, he hated Tofu, but more importantly, "What do you mean?"_

" _It's nothing." His face fell back to something more emotionless._

" _It's never 'nothing' when someone says that."_

" _You're better off not knowing." Levi was looking at Eren now, and Eren thinks he might be hallucinating, but for an instance, Levi's eyes were pleading, pleading for him to not push for an answer. So Eren did just that, he changed the topic to something about Auruo having a really good Captain Levi impression (not really) and they went on with the night in the comfortable presence of another._

Levi was and is still amazed, at how Eren picks up the tiniest of hints from the slacks in Levi's pretence. He hadn't expected the brat to drop it as easily as that. Eren, seemed to be a curious one, he must have wanted to clear things up. He must have wanted to know what Levi really meant. Surprisingly, he let it go and for once in his life, Levi might actually have enjoyed the presence of a company. This is bad.

The questions forming in Levi's head are many yet none of them had answers. He swung his free arm across his forehead and let the weight rest in that position; his head was starting to feel light and dizzy from all the, the thinking. This is fucking bad.

 _How does he have the same exact look?_

 _Why does he feel so familiar yet distant?_

 _What makes him so special and different from everyone else?_

Levi battled these overwhelming thoughts to sleep that night after coming to a conclusion: to keep his sentiments for Eren Jaeger as far away as possible. He cannot be compromised like that; not by a brat he'd met for only a little over 2 days.

* * *

 **A/N:** I know I said longer chapters and this was definitely not long at all. Unfortunately, I'm facing an ordeal, or more like a curse known as Writer's Block... which is a terrible feeling! I have my chapter planned and I'm writing, I'm deleting, writing again and nothing seems right. I'm not ready to post something I'm not happy with so I hope everyone who's still with me bear with this a little bit more. Enjoy this short chapter for now, something bigger is coming up next :)

As always, thank you for reading and I would love to read your comments!


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